


Follow me

by unacaritafeliz



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Blind Date, Getting Together, Kindergarten Teacher AU, M/M, Social Media AU, Twitter AU, Youtube AU, instagram au, no NHL chowder so whats even the point of living AU, oh god here we go, rae is a fucking weirdo au, rated T for canon-typical language, thats the only thing canon about this, tiktok au, tinder au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26542894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unacaritafeliz/pseuds/unacaritafeliz
Summary: Will thinks he might be catching real, legitimate feelings for Derek Nurse. Which kind of makes sense because Derek basically possesses every attractive quality ever observed in humans,but it also makes no sense at all because Will’s never even met Derek Nurse.It's is getting out of hand. Even the fucking algorithm knows about his crush now. He needs to get a grip and pull himself together before he winds up hurting himself.[or 5 times Will Poindexter finds Dr. Derek Nurse on social media and one time he finds him in real life. And also Derek is a Kindergarten teacher and an English PhD. For reasons.]
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Comments: 14
Kudos: 210





	Follow me

**one.**

Will is having a really bad day.  
  
The junior engineers at his company had deployed some buggy code, so Will had spent his morning rolling back their code and his afternoon hunting down the bug with Chris so they'd still meet their end of day delivery deadline. He didn't get a moment to rest, having to eat lunch at his desk, and when he'd finally gotten out it was only to try and catch the bus home during rain-fueled peak hour traffic, only to find his fridge completely empty and an hour wait for anything on Postmates and Will honestly just wants to die.  
  
_'Send Siobhan videos to replenish my will to live,'_ he texts his sister in law.  
  
_'Ha, your *will* to live,'_ Priyanka texts back.  
  
Will groans, but before he can complain, Priyanka texts through a link to a TikTok. Will didn't think PJ and Priyanka even knew what TikTok was, but he clicks the link anyway, one eyebrow arched in curiosity. The app opens to an image of a black man around Will's age, with bright green eyes and fluffy black hair and the sharpest cheekbones Will has ever seen, next a little black girl, with beads on her braids and a big, brightly coloured bow sitting atop her head. Will hits play.  
  
"JaBria," says the man, voice smooth and deep and rich. "Are you smart?"  
  
"Yes!!!!" The little girl, JaBria, replies, loud and confident. Will can't help but smile at her enthusiasm.  
  
"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" The man asks.  
  
JaBria doesn't even hesitate. "Me and Dora," she says.  
  
"You and Dora?" The man asks, grinning widely. He has a dimple on his cheek. It's kind of adorable.  
  
"Mmhmm," JaBria confirms.  
  
"Y'all best friends?"  
  
"Mmhmm."  
  
"And roommates?"  
  
"Mmhmm."  
  
"Okay," the man says, with a fond shake of his head. "Good job."  
  
The video goes on through a couple more kids, and Will finds his smile getting increasingly wider with every new answer. The kids are all so funny, so confident and earnest in their completely wrong answers. The man, who must be their teacher, is entertaining too; he laughs at their answers but never in a mean-spirited way, and he affirms them no matter what they do. He's undeniably gorgeous too, and Will feels the beginnings of a crush bubbling in his chest.  
  
The man is pretty and he's good with kids. Will's only human.  
  
"Siobhan," the teacher says, as the familiar face of Will's niece pops up on screen. Will gasps in delighted surprise. "Are you smart?"  
  
"Yes, sir," Siobhan says, firmly, and Will laughs, his heart overflowing with affection for her. He hasn't seen Siobhan in weeks, since they live in different cities, and not a day goes by that he doesn't miss her.  
  
"Who's the prettiest person alive?" the teacher asks, tilting his head and evidently searching for a compliment. Will rolls his eyes.  
  
"Uncle Billy!" Siobhan exclaims, and Will's face heats up - a mixture of pride, fondness and sheer mortification filling his soul.  
  
The teacher raises one of his thick, perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "Uncle Billy?" he asks.

Siobhan nods determinedly, her dark fringe flopping into her face.  
  
"Alright," says the teacher, nodding in acceptance. "Good job."  
  
The video loops back to the beginning and Will watches it a few more times, laughing just as hard every time. It's simple content but it's cute and well executed, and Siobhan being involved in it is the cherry on top. Will clicks over to the main account after his seventh watch.

> **@drnurseofficial**  
>  **Dr. Nurse ✌🏾**  
>  _The kids are alright._

There's no name or location in the bio, presumably so no one can identify and locate the teacher or the students, and the only posts seem to be similar videos of the kids messing around. Will clicks the follow button before he can overthink it, and scrolls through the rest of the videos, each more adorable than the last.  
  
He's only following the account because he loves his niece and would do anything for more content about her. There's nothing more to it.  
  


* * *

**  
two.**  
  


Will's having the slowest Wednesday in the history of Wednesdays.  
  
He's been waiting all morning for their product manager to finally drop the design brief for the next release into his inbox, and there's not much he's been able to do whilst waiting for it, other than writing a couple of small commits to fix the shit code the junior devs have been pushing to main because no one knows how to review pull requests. Well, that and sending Chris memes via slack.  
  
Will's taken an early lunch, sitting in the sunniest spot of the break room with Chris, idly scrolling through his phone as he eats the leftover spagbol he brought in for lunch. The fork drops from his hand when he switches over to Instagram and is met with a picture of a younger Chris, his arms slung over a man who is undoubtedly the younger version of Siobhan's cute teacher from TikTok. Will glances at the caption:

> _**@sharkschow** : it's been ten years since we graduated and I still miss **@dmnurseyy28** every single day!!!  
>  _

"Will?" asks Chris. When Will looks up his eyebrows are furrowed with concern. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah," says Will, shaking his head. "Just a bit surprised. I think the friend you just posted on Instagram is my niece's teacher?"  
  
"Oh, Nursey?" Chris asks. Will shrugs. It sounds about right, the teacher was called 'Dr. Nurse' after all. "He's a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn."  
  
"Yeah, that's him then," says Will, glancing back at the screen. The man is smiling widely, and his dimple was even more prominent when he was younger than it is now.  
  
"Small world!" says Chris. His smile is blinding. "Is your niece in his TikTok's?"  
  
"Uh, yeah," say Will. "Siobhan."  
  
"Oh my god!" says Chris, slamming the table loud enough that three of their coworkers look over. "You're Uncle Billy!"  
  
Will's face heats up. His ears are on fire, and he knows he must look like an absolute tomato.  
  
"Yeah," says Will, dropping his gaze back to the screen and away from Chris' mischievous eyes. "I guess, I am."  
  
He clicks the tagged account because he needs a distraction from his burning face and also because the man is very attractive and Will is extremely gay. He glances at the bio:

> **Derek M. Nurse.**  
>  _Lit nerd. Aquarius. Bisexual Disaster. Have been called a hipster on multiple occasions._

WIll ignores the traitorous way his heart thuds at the word 'bisexual' as he focuses on the rest of the account. Hipster is an apt enough descriptor; Derek's feed is well curated and artistically shot, a good mix of social justice, food (there’s a lot of ramen), outfits and landscapes, as well as a couple of selfies that catch all Derek's good angles. The account is a work of art and Derek's got the follower count to prove it, which is why Will's brave enough to click follow, satisfied that Derek won't notice him amongst all his account activity.  
  
"He's single, if you were wondering," Chris says, and Will looks up to see his eyes sparkling mischievously. Of course Chris was watching his every move, because Chris Chow is a fucking menace.  
  
"I'm just making sure he's a good influence for Siobhan," Will says, face aflame. "That's it."  
  
Chris smiles. "Sure, Will."

* * *

**  
three.**  
  


Will's had a productive morning.  
  
Getting to work from home is one of the best perks of his job - he gets to turn off his phone, mute the company slack and get things done without annoying coworkers interrupting him with stupid questions. The lunch breaks are a bit boring, without Chris' sunshine commentary to entertain him, but Will's got his phone and the entire Netflix catalogue to keep him company while he eats so he's doing alright.  
  
He jams his lunch of leftover risotto in the microwave and leans against the counter, pulling out his phone to check his social media. He checks Facebook and Twitter before landing on Instagram, and the app opens to an artsy shot of two old and well-loved books, both by Alexandre Dumas. Will glances down at the caption:

> _**@dmnurseyy28** : re-reading an old fave for the next installment of #StopReadingBooksByWhitePeople!_

Will is still trying to parse the caption when the microwave beeps. He moves to the table with his risotto, shoves a forkful of rice into his mouth and punches ' _Stop Reading Books by White People_ ` into Google. The first hit is a YouTube video by a _'dereknurse_ ' and Will raises an eyebrow as he clicks the video.  
  
"Hello!" says Derek Nurse in high-definition video. He's wearing tortoise shell glasses and Will feels exactly one (1) emotion at the sight of them. "And welcome to another instalment of _Stop Reading Books by White People_! Today we're talking about Pablo Neruda."  
  
Derek holds up a battered book to the camera, well loved and almost falling apart at the seams and grins.

“Okay, so, disclaimer,” says Derek. “I’m a little biased. Neruda was the first thing I ever bonded with my stepmom over, back when I was fifteen, so he’ll always hold a special place in my heart because of that. It also means I read the English versions first, but I do know the Spanish versions now too, so please don’t kill me, poetry purists! Anyway, so, the thing about Neruda is...”

From there, Derek launches into what Will can only describe as a complete literary analysis of Neruda’s poetry, breaking down the imagery of the poems and tying it to historical and cultural meanings with ease. Will’s never been that good at poetry, but he’s captivated by the excitement of Derek’s voice, the emotion in his face, the sweep of his hand gestures. This is something Derek clearly loves, and something he’s evidently good at, and Will finds himself thinking he could watch Derek talk about poetry for days.

Will adds ‘cares about his family’ and ‘a fucking god at poetry analysis’ to the mental list of reasons why Derek Nurse is attractive as hell that he pretends he’s not keeping as he clicks over to Derek’s profile.

> **_Dr. Derek Nurse_ **  
>  _10k subscribers, 21 videos_
> 
> _A queer dude of colour with a PhD in literature, trying to amplify diverse voices and stories and end cishet white supremacy in literature._

And, well.. Will could probably stand having a more well-rounded knowledge of diverse stories, having grown up in All-White Maine. It would definitely help Siobhan out too, when she was old enough to read proper stories. Will knows how important it is for kids to see themselves in media, and he wouldn't even know where to start looking for protagonists like Siobhan. He clicks subscribe and navigates to the next video, titled _'7 reasons to hate Ernest Hemingway'._

His Netflix watch-list can wait until tomorrow.

* * *

**  
four.**

Will just wants to go home.  
  
He's been ready to deploy his code to production for the past hour, but there's a front-end component that's broken and Will can't check if his feature is working correctly until that's fixed. And since this particular feature needs to be delivered tonight, Will can't go home until he's sure that his feature is working correctly and ready for the clients to use. So he's just sitting here at his desk, idly scrolling the internet, while Marcella, his manager, tries to fix the issue.  
  
Will's got Netflix opened on one screen, half paying attention to the documentary Caitlin recommended him while he scrolls social on his secondary monitor, flipping from Facebook, to Instagram to Twitter and back in a mindless cycle. He's midway through his Twitter feed when something in the sidebar catches his eye. It's a suggested account, with a profile picture of a pile of leaves, and a username that looks vaguely familiar:

> **N ✊🏾📚**  
>  **_@nurseyiiisms_**  
>  yo, chill.

There's no real indication that the account actually belongs to one Derek M. Nurse, except that when Will clicks through to the account, Twitter kindly informs him that the account is already followed by **@sharkschow**.  
  
Derek’s Twitter isn't anything like his artfully curated Instagram - it's messy and unorganised, more a stream of consciousness than anything else - but it’s still undeniably Derek’s when you look closely enough. There’s links to bail funds and GoFundMes and community resources, because Derek desperately cares about those things, and puts his soul into everything he does. There’s literature memes and book recommendations and snippets of beautiful poetry Will’s never heard before because Derek is a complete literature nerd at heart, and Will’s hardly surprised to find that most of the poetry doesn’t show up on google, because Derek’s written it himself. There’s completely random tweets like _'Yo, what if leaves had feelings?'_ or _'would you rather find a person in your attic, or a thousand roaches?'_ because Derek’s funny and creative in a way that can’t be explained or imitated.

Every tweet has thousands of interactions, because Derek can’t do anything without attracting a fan club, even when he’s not showing off his unfairly beautiful face.  
  
Will scrolls back up to the top of the account and pauses with his pointer over the follow button. Derek's Twitter clearly gets enough interaction that a new follower notification is likely to go unnoticed, but Will still feels kind of weird. Will already follows Derek on three social media sites, and it's getting harder to pretend he's only doing it out of a vague sense of curiosity about the man and an overprotective love for his niece.  
  
Will thinks he might be catching real, legitimate feelings for Derek Nurse. Which kind of makes sense because Derek basically possesses every attractive quality ever observed in humans,but it also makes no sense at all because Will’s never even met Derek, and he’s always been far too logical to ever fall for someone that he doesn’t know. Not to mention, Derek doesn’t even know Will exists - unless you count Siobhan’s endless praise for her Uncle Billy which Will does not.

Will’s crush is getting out of hand. Even the fucking algorithm knows about it now. He needs to get a grip and pull himself together before he winds up hurting himself over something dumb.

"Hey Poindexter," says Marcella, from the desk opposite him, and Will jolts at the sound of her voice. “Just fixed the problem with the publishing script. You should be good to ship."  
  
“Uh, thanks Marcie,” Will says, voice a little rougher than he’d intended. “I’ll, uh, get on that.”

Ignoring Marcella’s raised eyebrow, Will returns his attention to his desktop screen, where Derek’s Twitter is still taunting him. Will frowns, hesitates, and then hits follow, immediately switching tabs back to his code. 

He tries in vain to ignore how pathetically gay he is.

* * *

**  
five.**

Will's fucking exhausted.  
  
The drive from Boston to New York is only four hours, but when you factor in an evening of Siobhan climbing over him, and Priyanka fussing over him, and PJ trying to wrestle with him for God-knows-what-reason, Will's ready to fall asleep at the bright and early hour of 9pm. Of course, PJ and Priyanka would tease him forever if he did that, so he settles for laying on the couch watching bad reality TV with Priyanka, while his brother puts his niece down for bed.  
  
Priyanka is sprawled out on the couch with her feet in Will’s lap, only half paying attention to the show that she chose as she scrolls through Will’s phone. Will’s kind of terrified of what she might be up to on it, but he’s powerless to stop her. The women in his life are all forces of nature, Will’s long accepted that he has to let them do what they want.

"Holy shit!" exclaims Priyanka, pulling her legs away from Will as she sits up straight. "Dr. Nurse is on Tinder!"

Will’s brain takes a moment to process that, but he basically launches himself on top of his sister-in-law the second it does, snatching the phone from her hand before she can do something embarrassing. Ears burning, he glances down at the phone and sees a very handsome and familiar face smiling lazily up at him.

> **Derek, he/him (32)  
>  **Brooklyn, NY
> 
> Skip the small talk, tell me about something you love.  
>  (I love poetry, hockey, and leaf piles, for reference)

Will hadn’t even realised he still had Tinder downloaded to his phone. The fact that he does, along with the fact that Tinder had shown him Derek Nurse’s profile within hours of them being in the same city, honestly seems like some kind of sign from the universe, an opportunity for Will to actually do something about his ridiculous, nonsensical crush on the man. It would be nice to believe it was a sign from the universe, at least.

Unfortunately, Will is nothing if not logical, and he knows it could never work. Not only are the chances of Derek actually matching with Will slim-to-none, but Will has to be back home at the end of the week, in a city four hours away from here. There’s no chance for something permanent with Derek Nurse, and it would be far too weird to do something casual after everything Will’s learned about him.

"You should swipe right," Priyanka says, oddly serious, and Will looks away from the phone to glare at her.

"I'm not swiping right on Siobhan's teacher on fucking _tinder_ , Priya," he hisses, locking the phone and sliding it into his pocket, away from the risk of accidental swiping.

“He’s not her teacher anymore!” Priyanka insists. “You should do it, Billy! You’d be super fucking cute together!”

"There’s no point," says Will. “Even if I did match with him, which I won’t, I’d have to go home at the end of the week, We probably wouldn't even get to meet each other.”

Priyanka's gaze softens, and Will gets the feeling he’s fucked up and said too much.

“Will…” Priyanka starts.  
  
He's definitely said too much. Priyanka only calls him by his preferred nickname when she feels sorry for him.  
  
"I'm going to bed," he announces,tightening his hands into fists as he walks toward the guest room. "I'll see you in the morning, Priyanka."  
  
Will shuts the room door behind him and leans against it, resting the back of his head against the cool wood. He takes his phone from his pocket and unlocks it. It’s still open to Derek’s tinder, and Will takes a moment to scroll through his pictures, imagining what it would be like to swipe right on Derek’s profile, if only to see if Derek would swipe right on him too.

Will deletes the app and throws his phone across the room.

* * *

**  
plus one**

  
Will's going to kill Chris.  
  
After the Tinder incident last month, Will had finally admitted to himself that developing feelings for a man he had never met and had no chance of dating wasn't healthy. So he'd unfollowed Derek on all social media and had allowed Chris to set him up on a blind date in an attempt to channel his useless gay pining into something a little more productive. Having not dated anyone in years, Will had been super nervous but he'd ultimately trusted Chris not to do anything terrible.  
  
He'd forgotten, however, that Chris Chow is a fucking menace, and had turned up to the outdoor bar Chris had texted him to find a very familiar man sitting at one of the tables.  
  
"Uh, hi," Will says, more than a little awkwardly. "I'm Will."  
  
Derek M. motherfucking Nurse smiles brightly as he looks up at Will, his dimple prominently displayed and freckles across his nose that hadn't shown up on Will's phone screen. He stands up and kisses Will on the cheek, because of course Derek Nurse is one of those overly-familiar tactile kinds of people. Will feels his face burn at the contact.  
  
"I'm Derek," says Derek, oblivious to just how little he needs to introduce himself to Will. "It's nice to meet you, Will. Can I get you a drink?"  
  
"Uh, sure," says Will. Derek stares at him and eyebrow raised and Will almost smacks himself in the forehead when he realises Derek's waiting to know what kind of drink. "Oh, a, uh, a gin and tonic, please."  
  
Derek smiles. "Of course," he says. "Back in a minute."  
  
Derek disappears to the bar and Will takes a second to breathe, gather his thoughts and shoot a text to his best friend about how much he's going to murder him later. Will didn't even know Derek was in Boston, and now he's on a date with him, and Derek's even more gorgeous in person than he ever was online, and Will has no fucking idea what he's supposed to do. Does he lie, and pretend that he's never seen or heard of Derek at all? That seems kind of deceitful, but it's also possibly a better tactic than admitting he'd practically stalked Derek on several different social media platforms, and only stopped because he actually sorta kinda maybe fell in love with the guy...  
  
**_Fuck_**. If Will survives this he's going to fucking murder Chris.  
  
"Here you go," says Derek, and Will jumps a little as Derek slides back into his seat, sliding a clear drink across at Will.  
  
Will should maybe not accept a drink from someone he doesn't know, but Derek is Siobhan's old teacher and Chris' best friend and Will is a fucking gay disaster in desperate need of alcohol right now so he takes a sip anyway. Priyanka would kill him if she ever found out.  
  
"Thanks," says Will.  
  
He wants to say more. He should say more because this is awkward as fuck and Derek's looking at him kind of expectantly but there's not a single rational thought in his brain right now. He feels like the second he opens his mouth he's going to say something he shouldn't have, and then the next thing he knows Derek will take out a restraining order against him, and Chris will hate him, and PJ and Priyanka will make fun of him every day for the rest of their lives.  
  
Derek takes a sip of his own drink, some kind of coke based concoction. "So, Will," he says. "You work with Chris, right? That must be really fun."  
  
"Yeah," says Will, nervously fiddling with his glass. "Chris is really smart and funny so working with him is always a great productive time. He said you went to college with him?"  
  
"Yeah, we played hockey together for Samwell," says Derek. "It was a really fun time, and our team was such an incredible group of guys."  
  
Will can't help but smile at the soft, wistful look on Derek's face. Nothing on his social media could ever capture this. "That's cool," says Will. "It's nice that you guys still keep in touch, all these years later. I haven't seen my college friends in years."  
  
"Chris is the best friend I've ever had," says Derek, still smiling. "I'd be really dumb to let that go."  
  
Will nods, and they lapse into silence again, sipping at their drinks. Fuck, this is really fucking awkward. If Will doesn't say anything, Derek's going to leave as soon as he can, and all Will will ever be to him is the fucking awkward redhead that Chris set him up with that one time. And Will doesn't want that to be all he ever is to Derek, especially not when Derek's always going to mean so much more to Will. And despite how awkward this is, and how ashamed Will is of how much he already likes Derek, he really wants this to work. And that means telling Derek the truth.

Or, part of the truth, at least.  
  
"I'm sorry," says Will, glancing up at Derek, who's watching him with curious green eyes. "I know I'm being weird. It's just... my niece was in your Kindergarten class last year"  
  
"Oh really?" Derek says, sounding almost... excited? He sits up in his chair, leaning towards Will. "That's so chill! Let me guess..." he tilts his head to the side, examining Will almost clinically, and Will feels his face flush at the attention. "Siobhan?"  
  
"Yeah," says Will, frowning. Siobhan was lucky enough to get most of her looks from her Ammi's side of the family. She doesn't particularly look like Will. "How did you know?"  
  
"You look like your brother," says Derek, and Will is seized by the desperate desire to hide his Poindexter™ ears. "Oh shit! You're Uncle Billy!"  
  
Will's Poindexter™ ears are on fire. "Yeah," he says, rubbing the back of his neck, awkwardly. "That's me."  
  
"Dude, Siobhan talked about you all the time," Derek says.  
  
"Yeah, I know," says Will. "I, uh, I've watched your TikToks."  
  
"Oh you did?" says Derek, looking genuinely surprised and delighted. Will nods. "Chill! I was hoping someone was sending those to you. She always had such amazing things to say about you."  
  
"I'm pretty sure she said I was the first person to walk on the moon," says Will. Derek snorts with laughter, and Will can't help but be helplessly endeared by the sound. "So that just proves everything she says is bullshit."  
  
"I don't know," says Derek, fiddling with his glass. His eyes are sparkling with mischief. "She also said you were the prettiest person on the planet, so at least some of the things she's said are true."  
  
It takes a moment for Will's brain to actually process that one, but his blush reappears full force when it does. It's a terrible line, but Will can't help but fall for it anyway. Will's only human, he can't just listen to a man that looks like Derek Nurse call him beautiful and not react to it in a completely over-the-top and embarrassing way.  
  
"I, uh," Will says, a little choked, and Derek grins. Will drains the rest of his drink. "Can I get you another drink, Derek?"  
  
Derek's eyebrows furrow, just a little bit. "Sure," he says. "I'll take a rum and coke. Thanks, Will."  
  
Will nods at Derek and then basically runs into the bar. He orders their drinks and takes a deep breath, trying in vain to calm his racing heart rate. Honestly, this date with Derek isn't going as bad as Will thought it would, now that they've got the awkwardness out of the way. Will is, of course, completely smitten with this raw unpolished version of Derek Nurse, even moreso than he ever was with any his social media persona. And Derek... Well, Derek's obviously not completely opposed to Will, judging by that last compliment and the fact Derek hasn't run out of here yet. There's only one problem left.

Will is still, technically, lying to Derek.

The bartender slides the drinks over to Will just as Will comes to a decision. He'll tell Derek about his weird cyberstalking (and hint, but not confess, to the feelings that resulted from said weird cyberstalking) at the end of the date, if and only if the date went well, Derek wants to see him again, and a relationship with Derek is possible with them both, presumably, still living in different cities. It's a very big if, since Will is still mostly convinced Derek's going to bolt any second now, but the plan helps Will relax, just a little, as he squares his shoulders and heads back to their table outside.

"Hey," says Derek, as Will slides back into his seat and passes Derek's rum and coke over. "Look, I wanted to apologise if I made you feel uncomfortable before. I was just trying..."  
  
"You didn't," interrupts Will. "Make me feel uncomfortable, that is. It's fine. Really, it's... I just wasn't expecting it. But I don't mind, Derek."  
  
"Oh, good," says Derek, looking relieved. "That's... that's good."  
  
Will smiles, a little relieved that Derek Nurse is also sometimes a little awkward and unsure of himself. He always seemed so confident and put-together online, it's nice to know that he's human too. It somehow makes him even more attractive, which Will hadn't even thought possible.  
  
"Yeah," says Will. He takes a sip of his drink. "So you still live in New York, right? What brings you down to Boston?"  
  
"Oh it's my niece's thirteenth birthday," Derek says. He pulls his phone from his pocket and shows Will the lock-screen, showing a picture of Derek and a young girl with long dark braids and Derek's broad nose. "Thought I'd come down and surprise her."  
  
"That's really nice," says Will. He's trying to sound casual, but he thinks Derek probably sees right through him. "Do you come down to visit her often?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm here once or twice a month," says Derek, with a smile that implies that he does definitely see through Will. Will doesn't want to think too hard about the fact he's answering anyway. "I have three siblings living around here, plus a lot of my college friends. And I do some work with a not-for-profit publishing house based in Boston too, so I travel for that sometimes too. I, uh, was going to go into publishing before I went into teaching."  
  
Will knows this information, but Will absolutely cannot under any circumstances let Derek know that he knows this information.  
  
"It's very cool that you help out with the not-for-profit still," Will says. "I'd say it's a shame publishing didn't work out for you, but I think you make a very good teacher so it's probably for the best."  
  
"Yeah, definitely for the best," says Derek, with a laugh. "What about you, Will? Do you travel a lot? I know Chris goes to a lot of tech conferences in California, but his parents and sister are out there so maybe that's why."  
  
"Yeah, I tend to stick to the East Coast," says Will. "Mostly to New York, to be honest. There's some good tech conferences there, but I mostly just go to see Siobhan."  
  
"How often are you there?" says Derek. Will thinks he's also probably trying to sound casual, but Will can see straight through him as well.  
  
"Usually like, once every other month?" Will guesses, knowing it's not enough. "But, uh, I don't mind the drive that much so I could be, uh, persuaded, to come up a little more often."  
  
"Could you now?" asks Derek, one eyebrow raised teasingly. Will flushes, but nods. "I'll keep that in mind then."  
  
"You, uh, you do that," says Will, a little awkwardly and Derek snorts. It reminds Will of how Derek used to laugh at his students, amused but not mean spirited.'

In sync, they take sips of their drinks.  
  
"So, what else do you do with yourself, Will?" Derek asks. "Besides coding and having a cute niece and hanging out with my best friend, that is."  
  
"First of all, Chris is my best friend," says Will, and Derek laughs. "And second of all, I don't know. Nothing too exciting, I guess. I watch a lot of Star Trek. I bake sometimes. I do a little bit of carpentry - chairs, tables, bookshelves, that kind of thing."  
  
Derek actually looks awed. "You said that so casually!" he says. "That's really cool, Will. I can't even make IKEA furniture, so I'm really impressed you can make that kind of thing from scratch!"  
  
"My uncles taught me a bunch of things like that," says Will, awkwardly rubbing his neck. It's kind of overwhelming to have this much focus on him, so he tries to deflect it. "What about you? What do you like to do when you're not wrangling a bunch of five-year-olds?"  
  
"Uh, I play hockey sometimes," says Derek. "I like to go to art galleries and museums a bit. And I read... a lot, actually. I'm, uh, a little bit of a literature nerd if I'm being honest."  
  
"That's really cool," says Will, instead of pointing out how that's the understatement of a lifetime and outing himself as a cyberstalker. "I've always been better at maths and science than the arts, but I've been learning to appreciate literature a lot more recently. It's very interesting, I'd love to know more about it."  
  
"It's mad chill that you're trying to expand like that," says Derek, actually impressed. "I could never really expand into maths and science, I can only really handle a kindergarten level. And, like, Chris tried to teach me some code when we were at Samwell? Could not handle that shit at all."  
  
"I think you could learn a little," says Will. "You seem like a logical guy, and you're good with languages, and that's all programming really is, you know."  
  
Derek smiles. "Maybe you could teach me a little," he says. "One day."  
  
Will smiles too. "I'd really like that, Derek," he says, quietly.

“Yeah, I’d really like that too too,” says Derek. He lifts his glass to his mouth, draining it in a few long sips. “Look, Will I know we’ve been out for a while and you might want to go home, but I’m kind of starving and I, uh.... Do you maybe want to get some dinner with me?”

Will absolutely wants to do that. Derek is charming and fun and surprisingly easy to talk to, and Will is nowhere near ready to say goodnight to him just yet. It’s just… Will knows that this is it. This is the moment when he has to come clean about the social media stalking, and all the feelings that went along with it, before they get in too deep. It’s going to be really weird and awkward, but it’d be so much better than Derek finding out a few weeks from now, when Will’s heart is irrevocably invested in Derek.

Will’s heart is kind of already irrevocably invested… but it’s still better to tell him now then later.

“It’s chill if you don’t, want to” says Derek, after several moments have passed without Will speaking. “I was just offering.”

“No, I’d really like to get dinner with you, Derek,” says Will. His heart flips at Derek’s answering smile. “I just… I have something to tell you first, and you might think it’s weird but, uh, just bear with me for a second here. I, uh... followed you on your socials for a little while. Not just on TikTok, but Instagram and YouTube and Twitter too. I stopped after a while because I thought it was getting a little creepy since we didn’t actually know each other, but, uh, yeah... I just wanted you to know that I may know a little more about you than you realise. I know that's weird, and I’ll understand if you don’t want to see me anymore but..."  
  
"Will," says Derek, reaching out and grabbing Will's wrist. Will abruptly stops talking. "Can I tell you something too?"  
  
"Uh," says Will, staring at where Derek's fingers are wrapped around his wrist. "Sure?"  
  
Derek tilts Will's chin up with two fingers so that their eyes meet. "Caitlin sent me your social media months ago," he says. "Your Twitter, your Instagram, even that cute little fix-it vlog you made when you were at college? So I think it's possible that I also know you a little bit more than you realise too."  
  
"Oh," Will breathes, a little light-headed. This is a plot twist he couldn’t have ever seen coming. "I see."  
  
"Yeah," says Derek. "So, uh, if you don't think that's weird, then let's go get dinner and we'll see where we go from there, okay?"  
  
"I, uh, okay," says Will, because what else can he say? He’s still trying to understand what the hell just happened. "I, uh, know a great ramen place?"  
  
"Chill," says Derek, with a bright and genuine smile. "Lead the way."  
  
As they leave the bar, and Derek gently takes Will's hand in his, Will decides that maybe he won't kill Chris just yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Me, partway through writing the ATLA kids into a SMH AU: what if I write the SMH kids in a not-SMH AU?
> 
> Also I did not mean to make the last part so long but I was just... really enjoying writing these boys on their dumb awkward date, y'all. I miss dumb awkward dates even though I haven't been on very many. If you want to date me I am single but I'm also a mess so maybe don't date me.
> 
> Anyway, links:  
> * [Black Lives Matter carrd](https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/), because Derek (and I) would ask you to help if you can.  
> * The [super cute La'ron Hines TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@laronhinesofficial/video/6859874965227883782?lang=en) that inspired this whole damn thing.  
> * [Derek's personal tumblr that he personally runs](https://nurseyiiisms.tumblr.com/), whose URL I pinched for his Twitter.  
> * My [friend Tori's AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/torkz/pseuds/torkz) because she cheer-read this for me and her writing is so good.
> 
> Thank you and goodnight.


End file.
